Characteristics
They are an ethnic minority in Romania, numbering 3,288 people according to the 2002 census. Italians are fairly dispersed throughout the country, even though there is a higher number of them in the western parts of the country (particularly Timiş County), and in the Municipality of Bucharest.
As an officially-recognised ethnic minority, Italians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies.
In recent years, the number of Italians living in Romania has increased substantially. As of November 2007, there are some 12,000 Italians in and around Timişoara. About 3,000 square kilometres of land (2% of the agricultural land of Romania) have been bought by Italians.
Read more about this topic: Italian Romanians